Caledonia Min Regulatory News (CMCL)

13 Mar 2006 14:00

Caledonia Mining Corporation13 March 2006 Caledonia Mining Corporation Caledonia Acquires Additional Properties Adjoining its Rooipoort (PGE/Au/Ni/Cu)Project, South Africa, virtually doubling the Rooipoort Project area. Toronto, Ontario - March 13 2006: Caledonia Mining Corporation ("Caledonia")(TSX: CAL, NASDAQ-OTCBB: CALVF, AIM: CMCL) is pleased to announce that it hasconcluded an agreement, on behalf of its wholly owned South African subsidiarycompany Eersteling Gold Mining Company Limited ("EGMC"), with FalconbridgeVentures of Africa (Pty) Ltd ("Falconbridge") (a subsidiary of FalconbridgeLimited), to acquire a 100% interest in Falconbridge's prospecting rightscovering the farms Moordrift 289KR, Jaagbaan 291KR, and portions of Grasvally293KR, a total area of 4,315.81 hectares. Eersteling's current rights cover4,404.84 hectares on Rooipoort 46KS and portions of Grasvally 293KR. Thisacquisition effectively doubles the area of Caledonia's Rooipoort Projectunderlain by Bushveld Complex rocks with proven PGE potential. Highly Prospective PGE Terrain:These properties are situated at the southern end of the highly prospectivenorth limb of the Bushveld Complex, some 50km south of the Anglo Platinum openpit mining operation on the Platreef. Intensive exploration is being conductedalong the entire length of this 110km prospective zone by a number of companies,viz. AfriOre, Anooraq, Pan-Palladium, Ivanhoe Nickel & Platinum, PTM and AIMResources. The Moordrift, Jaagbaan and Grasvally farms adjoin the western and southernboundary of Caledonia's Rooipoort (PGE/Au/Ni/Cu) Project area and contain thedown dip extension of PGE/Ni/Cu mineralization that was recently discovered byCaledonia on the western side of Rooipoort farm (Central Target Area) (Fig. 2).(Also please see Caledonia website Project Status Report dated December 9 2005and the NI 43-101 Independent Resource Report on portion of the mineralized, 61/2 kilometre long, Eastern Target Area. Falconbridge conducted limited exploration drilling (see Table 1 for details of3 holes) on the Rooipoort boundary and on Grasvally and intersected the down dipextension of the mineralisation intersected by Caledonia, described above. Table 1: Falconbridge Borehole Composites : Western Target Area MR?= Merensky like reef UG?= UG2 like reef SND=Stratigraphy not determinedIntercepts >0.5g/t 3E + >1.0m na = Not Assayed Hole id From To Drilled 3E Pt Pd Au Ni Cu Cr Mineralised width g/t g/t g/t g/t ppm ppm ppm Zone GV02-1 170.50 171.50 1.00 1.30 0.25 0.97 0.08 na na na SND 206.48 208.67 2.19 2.39 1.03 1.14 0.23 2113 1961 na MR?GV02-2 476.31 478.97 2.66 0.96 0.42 0.49 0.05 890 1357 na UG2?MD03-1 535.00 536.50 1.50 0.60 0.13 0.45 0.02 na na na SND 550.85 553.17 2.32 1.49 0.74 0.60 0.16 1742 1066 na SND 563.50 564.74 1.24 0.99 0.36 0.59 0.05 1800 790 na SND 566.37 573.91 7.54 2.22 0.94 1.13 0.15 2223 1654 na MR? 581.95 583.95 2.00 1.47 0.52 0.86 0.09 2184 1640 na SND Plus Previously Unknown PGE Reef ("321 Reef") Falconbridge also drilled a further 19 holes focused on an additional PGEmineralised horizon situated to the west of this earlier drilling (WesternTarget Zone). The location of these holes, and the results of this drilling canbe found in the Investor Centre on the Caledonia website (www.caledoniamining.com) under Technical Reports, in the document titled"Rooipoort PGE/Au/Ni/Cu Project - Falconbridge Property Acquisition - DrillingResults" This reef horizon is characterized by a highly favourable approximately 3:1 Pt:Pd ratio. Falconbridge concentrated on following up their best intersection inhole MD03-02 (6.86 m @3.38g/t Pt; 1.23 g/t Pd; 0.57 g/t Au; 0.23% Ni; and 0.29%Cu) as a probable conformable structure. Caledonia's interpretation of rockalteration and of the aeromagnetic data indicates the possibility of moreirregular vertical "ballroom type" structures that could have been missed byFalconbridge vertical drilling for a planar west dipping reef. Caledonia is planning to evaluate the near surface, up-dip extensions of thismineralization on the Rooipoort and Grasvally properties with the initial aim ofdelineating an open pit resource as soon as the necessary permits have beengranted by the South African authorities. This property and data acquisition opens up an extensive new target area of PGEmineralisation and greatly enhances the potential economic viability ofCaledonia's Rooipoort PGE/Au/Ni/Cu Project by more than doubling the areaunderlain by highly prospective PGE/Au/Ni/Cu mineralised stratigraphy alreadyidentified by drilling. Application to the South African authorities to transfer the Falconbridge rightsto Eersteling will commence immediately. For further information please contact: Caledonia Mining BuckBiasStefan Hayden, President and CEO Alex Buck / Nick BiasTel: +27 11 447 2499 Tel: +44 7932 740 452 Further information regarding Caledonia's exploration activities and operations,along with its latest financials may be found at www.caledoniamining.com. Certain statements included herein are "forward-looking statements". Managementcautions that forward-looking statements are not guarantees and that actualresults could differ materially from those expressed or implied in theforward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the actualresults of operations, exploration or development programmes, or the financialcondition of the Company, to differ include, but are not necessarily limited to,the risks and uncertainties discussed in documents filed by the Company with thevarious regulatory authorities having jurisdiction. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange